The ear mold of a hearing aid is usually cast in plastic after taking an impression of the ear and comprises an outer segment which rests in the outer ear and an adjacent part which is termed the auditory canal olive and projects into the auditory canal, the latter segment extending into the auditory canal for approximately one-third of its length. The auditory canal olive of the ear mold that projects into the auditory canal is provided with a sound channel and serves to conduct the amplified sound generated by the hearing aid into the auditory canal, while simultaneously sealing off the auditory canal from the outside.
In the conventionally employed behind-the-ear hearing aids, the sound channel formed in the ear mold is connected by means of a small plastic tube inserted into this sound channel with the loudspeaker capsule which is located in the hearing aid, in order to conduct the sound generated by the hearing aid from the loudspeaker capsule through the plastic tube into the sound channel of the ear mold and thus into the auditory canal. At the same time, this tube, which is bent into a curve as it passes between the hearing aid and the ear mold, serves to fasten the hearing aid mechanically behind the ear.
One of the problems that arises with hearing aids is the blockage of the outlet opening of the sound channel formed in the ear mold by ear wax. Ear wax has extraordinary creeping ability and therefore readily moves over the dome-shaped convexly curved end face of the ear mold end piece in the auditory canal up to the outlet opening of the sound channel, located approximately at its center, and into the latter as well. This can lead relatively rapidly to blockage of the sound channel in the ear mold, said channel being relatively thin with a conventional diameter in the vicinity of 2 mm. This blockage of the sound channel, which can result in a considerable reduction of the amount of sound coming from the hearintg aid into the auditory canal, cannot be eliminated by cleaning off the ear mold with a handkerchief, which creates the danger that, in attempting to clean it, the blockage can be made even more severe by forcing the ear wax into the sound channel.
Therefore, the goal of the invention is to remedy the problem of blockage by ear wax of the sound outlet opening of the ear mold end piece on the auditory canal side.